Chapter 1
The Beginning PART ONE On the Eastern side of an anonymous black rock, in the depths of the harsh desert country known as Tuzosia, there is a sand-dusted stairway that leads deep beneath the earfth. It is a legend well-known to the people of Tuzosia that in the depths of this winding passage, there is a lurking ancient power beyond most men’s dreams, awaiting a new master to summon it. But this treasure comes with a deadly cost, and allowing it to escape back into the world is to reawaken a warlike sleeping giant, always ready to tear the world asunder. Unfortunately, nobody had bothered to tell this story to the three mercenaries who now made their way through the darkened underground passage, illuminated only by three weak lanterns. They only knew their orders, and that was good enough for them. The feared and respected freelance pirate/adventurer Casey “Half-beard” Jones had been the first to receive the mission, and gladly assembled the team he thought he’d need for a mission like discovering the lost temple of Hiskor, returning alive if possible, which was in fact what he was told to do by his shadowy benefactor word-for-word. Two of Half-beard’s regular collaborators, the bounty hunter known only as Edge and the intrepid explorer R. Serling, had agreed to lend a hand for a cut of the loot (which was sizeable). “No doubt that this is the right place,” Half-beard remarked in an obvious attempt to diminish the false leads they’d been following for weeks prior. “Only a matter of time before we’ve got what we’re here for.” “Sure would be nice if we knew what that was,” Edge muttered, scratching the back of his neck. “I mean, we found the tomb or whatever and that’s great, but do we even know what we’re here for? And why did they need fucking mercenaries to do this anyways? What the hell's so dangerous about archeology?” “You feel like you’re wastin’ your time?” Half-beard spat as he wheeled backwards. “Then you just turn around and go home. Can’t speak for Serling, but I ain’t gonna mind getting your share o' the cash.” “Chill out, you guys,” the third mercenary remarked coolly. “The guy told Half-Beard there was an open entrance to a pre-Tuzosian temple somewhere out here, and we finally found one. We might as well go all the way at this point – I’m sure we’ll know what we’re here for when we see it.” Edge pulled his mouth into a grimace. “Beats waiting around for this asshole to tell us anything,” he admitted, pointing a thumb at the silent hulking man walking behind them, who grunted in acknowledgement. Half-beard’s employer had sent the mysterious muscle-bound man to follow the trio and monitor their progress about a week earlier, and he hadn’t spoken a word to them the entire time. Realizing the likelihood that the man was hired to kill them after they had completed their mission, the mercenaries kept a close watch on him at all times, especially now. They marched on for a few more minutes, with only the hisses and pops of the lantern to interrupt the silence as the path slowly widened into a great cavern. “Hey, what do you know,” Half-beard cried as he thrust his lantern towards a symbol-covered threshold ahead, “a gateway! Covered with hieroglyphics an’ shit, too. Looks like this really is the place.” “Wait… why is it that I see light coming from back there?” Serling wondered aloud. The trio stepped through the door and his question was immediately answered. The temple around them – the temple of Hiskor – was a massive chamber decorated with strange, monstrous statues of gold, silver, copper and jade, all staring towards a pit in the temple’s center filled with a strange green crystalline substance, shining with an unearthly glow. Edge erupted in a very uncharacteristic peal of laughter as he waved his torch over the treasures of the room. “Jackpot! We’ve hit the jackpot, you guys. Oh, I have never been more wrong! Just look at this stuff, we could load backpacks with it and the guy who hired you would never ever know! Uh, of course we’d let you in on it too, asshole,” he quickly added in an apologetic tone, turning to the mute overseer standing in the doorway. His expression remained, though his eyes had become fixed on the glowing substance at the room’s center. Half-beard couldn’t help but let a laugh or two escape his throat as well. “The hell’re you going for, Serling?” he asked his companion, who was bolting towards the far end of the temple. “What do you think?” he said with a grin, stopping next to an enormous red sword wedged into the stone floor. Gripping the hilt, he began struggling futilely to uproot the sword. “The damn thing’s bigger than you are, dumbass,” Half-beard snickered, waving his own blade in the air as though for comparison. “Probably next to worthless, too. Relatively, at least. Hey Edge, what do you want to grab first?” “Good question,” Edge replied, whirling his head around the room contemplatively like an Apple geek scouting out for a new iPod. At last he simply shrugged. “I get the feeling somehow that this shiny green stuff’s what we’re really here for,” he answered. “Might as well get that out of the way and take care of the rest later.” The man in the doorway nodded his head firmly, though no one seemed to notice. Edge lowered a hand down towards the pit, and at once his jovial nature dissipated, replaced with a cold, sinking feeling. He felt a soft pulsing in his mind. The laughter of his partners became drowned out by white noise, and a distant murmur in a language he could not understand. Something didn’t feel right… and yet, it seemed more necessary than ever that he place the glowing crystals within his grasp. He moved his hand a centimeter closer, and the murmur became a loud whisper; he moved another inch and it became a booming cry. The words of the voice had become clear now: “lo’al fahagatse, lo’al fahagatse”, it chanted over and over. The pulsing in his head had become unbearable pain. He couldn’t wait any longer. Edge grabbed and broke off a head-sized chunk of the strange glowing material, and at once all hell broke loose. An unearthly roar tore through the room, sending rocks plummeting from above. The sword Serling had been working to pull from the ground was suddenly loosened, sending him toppling backwards into a wall, stunned. Half-beard and Edge made for the door at once, following close on the heels of the mute, already running swiftly toward the surface. If anyone had bothered to look back, they would’ve seen Serling illuminated by the flickering red light of an opening gateway to another realm. After what felt like an eternity, the three men escaped from the collapsing tunnel to rejoin the world above. They sat there for a time, crouched and breathless in the sand, Edge sill holding the massive crystal shard to his chest. He stared into its surface, still shining with an unnatural green glow. He fell deep into thought. What was this strange power he had awakened? And why was it that if he listened closely, he could still hear the sinister voice whispering its endless refrain of lo'al fahagatse? The nameless man rose to his feet, placing a hand above his eyes as he stared into the distance. He could barley make out a distortion in the sky… an enormous cloaked aircraft, flying in their direction. He smiled. Next Chapter